Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
At Elia Group, all employees are treated equally, regardless of their sex, gender identity, country of origin, age, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, ability, social background or other related factors. We see it as our role to create a diverse and inclusive organisation and society. We carry out our work for the benefit of society. We therefore want to ensure that our staff and organisation reflect the many and diverse communities and customers that we serve.
What do diversity, equity & inclusion mean at Elia Group?
Catherine Vandenborre, CEO ad interim Elia Group
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Our commitment
We are in the middle of our diversity, equity and inclusion journey. At the start of 2021, we assessed our progress through staff interviews and data analysis, seeking to identify areas we still need to work on. As a consequence, we created a specific DEI roadmap, which will guide us towards becoming a diverse, equitable and inclusive company in the years to come. This roadmap focuses on the following areas:
- Establishing inclusive leadership across the organisation and engaging all staff
- Embedding unbiased recruitment and selection practices into our hiring processes
- Ensuring equal opportunities for all staff in the development of their careers
- Building an open company culture and ensuring a healthy work-life balance
- Fully recognising the responsible role we play in the interest of society
We value diversity and we are conscious of the fact that the energy sector has historically been led by male technical expertise. With the challenges brought about by the energy transition and our transformation into a digital organisation, we need to widen both the pool of candidates we attract and the experience of the staff we hire, whilst also broadening the crucial roles women play in the energy sector.
Our actions are centred around 3 focal points:
Our actions
Some of our DEI actions are outlined below. We will keep building on these as we move towards becoming an even more inclusive Group, constantly adapting our approach and planning out new steps to take.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Charter
At the end of 2020, Elia Group signed a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Charter. This DEI Charter outlines the management team’s commitment to further embed diversity, equity and inclusion across our organisation.
Creating awareness about diversity, equity & inclusion
Since each member of staff at Elia Group should contribute to building an inclusive work environment, we have launched a we have launched a DEI awareness campaign.
Some campaign actions target the entire Group, like the organisation of an inspirational session celebrating International Women’s day or an annual Elia Group Diversity Day, whilst other actions are tailored to specific departments or teams. In the latter case, we are planning interactive sessions on the importance and benefits of diversity and inclusion, as well as the blind spots we can still work on.
Elia Group diversity, equity & inclusion ambassador network
The numbers
We are currently establishing a diversity & inclusion data dashboard to better track our performance and the outcomes of our actions. This dashboard will also be available for team leaders to easily assess how diverse their teams are. Figures collected in 2020 show the following:
19.6% of Elia’s overall workforce is female . As of 31 December 2020, 18.32% of positions at the two most senior management levels were occupied by women. Moreover, 22.8% of positions at the third most senior management level were occupied by women, whilst 17.4% and 37.5% of positions on the supervisory board and the executive board (respectively) were occupied by women.
The average age of employees at Elia is 42.4 years; this has remained stable when compared with previous years.
In 2020, the percentage of female hires increased by 8% compared with 2019, whilst the percentage of 50+ hires rose by 11%.
